Guinness wrote:Pens are up 2-0 against the Rangers right now. Philly is a bad first round matchup. People need to start thinking of this as the ECF in order to keep things in perspective.

But, it's not Guiness. This is the first round. The Pens need to adjust their game to a more defensive approach or they are done. I don't care how good Philly is, the Pens SHOULD beat them!

It's not, but it should be. These are the two best teams in the East. No one guaranteed PGH a ticket punched to the Finals. It is what it is - they're playing them in round one. Are there areas where they should be playing better? Absolutely. They came WAY off the gas in game one and gave that game away. Tonight was much more even, in my opinion, but the breaks didn't go their way.

You've been watching playoff hockey long enough to know that the next two games could just as easily fall to the Pens as the past two have fallen to Philly. This IS the Eastern Conference Finals.

KG wrote:If the Pens lose and DB gets the boot, the rotation now looks like they would hire a disciplinarian/system coach....I'm not so sure these players really want that...you would think the though of having to play for Brent Sutter or someone would wake this bunch of fat cats up!

The players wouldnt want that? Good. As far as I'm concerned anyone who has an issue with playing a hard 60 minutes can find another team

Rocco wrote:Sorry but I don't buy why we're making excuses for a guy who led the league in scoring and is the likely Hart winner. He bears the burden of expectations, whether he likes it or not. He's had a bullseye on his chest all season and it hasn't mattered until now.

Who's we? If you're making the excuses, you can stop.

The people absolving Malkin since he's getting double-teamed and hit. I'd call that an excuse.

orpchar wrote:The lack of defense has nothing to do with system, pairings, or personnel. It has everything to do with pride, focus, desire, and attention to detial. I don't know if it's pinned on the coaches or the players, but this team is simply going through the motions out there, and expecting their opposition to do the same. It's painful to watch, and it's certainly not going to get this team very far. If they want to go anywhere this year, the Penguins need to start protecting their net.

I agree with a lot of that. Normally, you'd expect to see bodies on the puck carrier against the boards or hovering around it. Pens tend to just shadow, not engage. That's maddening. Even little disruptions make a difference.

Guinness wrote:Come on dude. Malkin is being double and triple covered. There is no room for anyone in the O-zone. Neal made a helluva play on that puck. It didn't go in. Meanwhile, he's been banging everything in sight. Calling him a scared bunny is just nonsense.

Philly is a good team. They're down 0-2 in the ECF. Put your big boy pants on and deal with it - there's still 2 losses to go before they're out. I hope the men in the lockerroom aren't pee-ing their pants, too.

I wasn't aware that Malkin was left alone all season and just now is dealing with teams focusing on him.

Rocco is trying out to take over the screen name Puck Drama 2.0. Sad.

I love how reality is mocked on this board.

Like the reality of the whole team sucking out loud? The reality that we scored 5 but let up 7 (plus an EN)?

Guinness wrote:Pens are up 2-0 against the Rangers right now. Philly is a bad first round matchup. People need to start thinking of this as the ECF in order to keep things in perspective.

But, it's not Guiness. This is the first round. The Pens need to adjust their game to a more defensive approach or they are done. I don't care how good Philly is, the Pens SHOULD beat them!

It's not, but it should be. These are the two best teams in the East. No one guaranteed PGH a ticket punched to the Finals. It is what it is - they're playing them in round one. Are there areas where they should be playing better? Absolutely. They came WAY off the gas in game one and gave that game away. Tonight was much more even, in my opinion, but the breaks didn't go their way.

You've been watching playoff hockey long enough to know that the next two games could just as easily fall to the Pens as the past two have fallen to Philly. This IS the Eastern Conference Finals.

I know that the Pens don't match up well against the Flyers. But the Rangers still did get the #1 seed so you have to give them their due....If the Pens would have showed that they actually cared about winning the #1 seed and beat the Islanders back to back games, we would all be singing a different tune...The fact that this team just lost their way for this long is alarming and tells me that the coach is starting to be tuned out...

Rocco wrote:Sorry but I don't buy why we're making excuses for a guy who led the league in scoring and is the likely Hart winner. He bears the burden of expectations, whether he likes it or not. He's had a bullseye on his chest all season and it hasn't mattered until now.

Who's we? If you're making the excuses, you can stop.

The people absolving Malkin since he's getting double-teamed and hit. I'd call that an excuse.

I'm absolving Malkin because the team let up SEVEN GOALS. SEVEN. That is a blowout amount of goals in friggen October. Let alone in the NHL Playoffs. That is beyond pathetic. That is blow up the team, coach, and GM pathetic.

This team could have Mario and Gretsky in their prime and they are not going to overcome SEVEN GOALS AGAINST.

Last edited by AlexPKeaton on Fri Apr 13, 2012 11:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Rocco wrote:Sorry but I don't buy why we're making excuses for a guy who led the league in scoring and is the likely Hart winner. He bears the burden of expectations, whether he likes it or not. He's had a bullseye on his chest all season and it hasn't mattered until now.

Who's we? If you're making the excuses, you can stop.

The people absolving Malkin since he's getting double-teamed and hit. I'd call that an excuse.

So your order of problems with the team tonight would be: Malkin, Neal...................... everything else? Just curious because that's all you've managed to type for about 25 pages.

Rocco wrote:Sorry but I don't buy why we're making excuses for a guy who led the league in scoring and is the likely Hart winner. He bears the burden of expectations, whether he likes it or not. He's had a bullseye on his chest all season and it hasn't mattered until now.

Who's we? If you're making the excuses, you can stop.

The people absolving Malkin since he's getting double-teamed and hit. I'd call that an excuse.

The kid is allowed to go 2 games without a goal. It happens even to legends...

Guinness wrote:Come on dude. Malkin is being double and triple covered. There is no room for anyone in the O-zone. Neal made a helluva play on that puck. It didn't go in. Meanwhile, he's been banging everything in sight. Calling him a scared bunny is just nonsense.

Philly is a good team. They're down 0-2 in the ECF. Put your big boy pants on and deal with it - there's still 2 losses to go before they're out. I hope the men in the lockerroom aren't pee-ing their pants, too.

I wasn't aware that Malkin was left alone all season and just now is dealing with teams focusing on him.

Rocco is trying out to take over the screen name Puck Drama 2.0. Sad.

I love how reality is mocked on this board.

Like the reality of the whole team sucking out loud? The reality that we scored 5 but let up 7 (plus an EN)?

Make stupid comments does not equal reality. Sorry.

It's not even the fact the Malkin isn't scoring, it's the fact that the east-west passing and drop passes continue (and continue to fail...) and his he was a -5.

Rocco wrote:Sorry but I don't buy why we're making excuses for a guy who led the league in scoring and is the likely Hart winner. He bears the burden of expectations, whether he likes it or not. He's had a bullseye on his chest all season and it hasn't mattered until now.

Who's we? If you're making the excuses, you can stop.

The people absolving Malkin since he's getting double-teamed and hit. I'd call that an excuse.

So your order of problems with the team tonight would be: Malkin, Neal...................... everything else? Just curious because that's all you've managed to type for about 25 pages.

So are you in this thread for any reason other to take shots at me? Cause that's all you seem to talk about.

Malkin and Neal got a lot of praise when the team was winning and they were on fire. Things have gotten hard. This is how things go.

kunitz was a disruptive force on the top line - and not in a good way. he had 2 goals, so he's not the most practical choice to criticize, but he was a bigger problem than the other 2 guys at even strength. sloppy stuff from #14. but again...2 goals, so whatever.

bab81 wrote:It's not even the fact the Malkin isn't scoring, it's the fact that the east-west passing and drop passes continue (and continue to fail...) and his he was a -5.

SO Malkin caused all the goals? I don't get it. The team defense is horrible. Malkin is part of the team. So by extension, his d was terrible, but if you watched tonight and the takeaway was that Malkin is the most alarming issue, I don't know what else to say other than disagree. I was more concerned with 3 or 4 guys at a time not knowing what to do in their own end. One guy switching while the other guy doesn't pick it up. Flyers circling the zone and skating out front with minimal to no pressure.

Malkin was involved in a lot of that, but there is a defensive issue where the team seems confused with what they should be doing when. It shows when they can make tic-tac-toe passes around our end for an open net.

Unless someone is hiding behind a screen name, NONE OF US have laced up the skates for the Penguins. We merely enjoy (and I use that term lightly) watching the team play. We're fans. We have 0 control over the game.

Some people treat this like whether or not the Pens win determines if said person lives or dies after the game. THAT is unhealthy.